The four walked along in almost near silence, with the only noises coming from the ground shuffling beneath their feet and the odd instruction Gladio whispered behind him to keep them safe from nearby monsters. There was one other noise, almost unnoticeable to the rest of the world but deafening to the four, it was the sound of Ignis' cane hitting the ground as he followed his friends. To them, each small tap rang out through the wilderness louder than anything they could imagine, but they did their best to ignore it as they pressed onwards.
Gladio steered the group around a boulder and instructed the team to follow him, all they had to do was quickly run over the ridge and they'd be safe at the campsite, there wasn't much time, it was almost dark. On Gladio's signal they all began to run, then they heard something behind them all hoping they were mistaken, but as they turned around their worst fears were realised, Ignis was on the ground his hand appeared to be sliced open by a small rock. Even worse was that the noise of his fall attracted a pack of Voretooths and they wasted no time in charging at the fallen advisor.
Ignis was on the ground trying his best to stand while ignoring the painful warmth of the cut on his hand when he felt himself being pulled by the shoulder, next thing he knew he was being pushed against a boulder.
"You stay here, ok Iggy." It was Prompto who had pulled him out of the way, just in time too. Then the gunner summoned his faithful pistols and ran to join the fray. Noctis and Gladio had summoned their weapons, a Storm Lance and Greatsword respectively. Noctis phased to attack the farther enemies while Gladio swung his blade to take out the closer ones, when Prompto arrived he wasted no time in picking off the remaining beasts and between the three the enemies were soon bested.
Noctis went to where Prompto had left Ignis who looked as if he was in shock, he placed a gentle hand on his friend's shoulder making sure not to startle him too badly. "You ok there Iggy."
"Quite alright Noct." Noctis didn't believe him but he didn't want to press this too much, not here anyway.
"Ok, well we're almost at the camp, come on." With that the gang quickly managed to get to the campsite, Prompto came up to Ignis and tended to his wounded hand. He cleaned the cut and bandaged it before placing a potion in Ignis' hand. "There you go Iggy, drink up."
"Thank you." Ignis replied as he drank the restorative, his voice sounded shakier than anyone was used to hearing.
"You sure you're alright Iggy." Noctis asked concerned for his friend, at first he was worried Ignis had sustained more injuries when he fell.
"I must apologise that I was of no help in the fight."
"It's ok Iggy, you can't do everything." Prompto's cheerful voice interject, he was met with Ignis snapping so suddenly that the group almost took a step back.
"Don't you understand, I can't do anything. I can't cook, I can't drive, I can't fight. But worst of all I can't keep you all safe, if it weren't for me you never would have been in that fight just now. My one job is to keep you safe Noct and I've failed you." Noctis, who had been racked with guilt since Ignis had been injured, couldn't express how much remorse he felt in this moment, he reached out to hold his friend but thought better of it.
"No you haven't, if it wasn't for you I doubt I'd be stood here right now, I doubt any of us would. If that's failing I don't know what a success would be."
"I told myself I could do this, even with my limitations but I put you in danger, that is completely unforgivable." Ignis voice cracked slightly giving the impression he was about to cry, Prompto wasn't sure if Ignis was even capable of crying but not wanting to find out, threw one arm around his shoulders.
"It's ok Iggy, we don't even know if this is forever, there's still a chance you could get better." Prompto's optimism was endearing but unfortunately Ignis was in no position to be cheered up.
"There isn't. I think it's safe to say that I shall never see again. Which unfortunately means I can't keep you safe, and if something happens to any of you because I'm unable to help then…" It was at this point the first tear fell, but after the first escaped they were impossible to halt. Ignis was unable to compose himself, the tears streamed, they were hot and burned at the scars around his eyes, overcome he felt himself falling when he felt two strong hands grabbing his arms holding preventing him from hitting the ground. Gladio, who had remained silent so far, stood his friend up but did not let go.
"Shut up Iggy. If anything happens to us it's because we're idiots, so if you even dare think of blaming yourself…Well, don't because we'll be fine." To outsiders, his gruff tone would have sounded less than compassionate but to Ignis the words were sweeter than he was expecting.
As the tears slowed, not stop entirely but cease to be quite the torrent they were before, Noctis replaced Gladio's hands with his own and pulled his friend into an embrace. Ignis, being the taller of the two, dropped his head to Noctis' shoulder and, against his better judgement, allowed himself to sob into his friend. Noctis held his friend, unable to understand the pain he felt, they stood there for what could have been thirty seconds or thirty minutes, Noctis wasn't keeping track of time he just wanted to do whatever small part he could do to fix his friend.
